This invention relates in general to nuts and in particular processes for increasing tree nut shelling efficiency.
Many varieties of tree nuts are difficult to hull and/or shell because as much as several hundred pounds of force are required. This much force is enough to crush the kernels contained within the hulls and/or shells of the nuts. Elaborate nut hulling and/or shelling means have been devised to prevent crushing the soft kernels. Nevertheless, preparatory processes are needed to increase efficiency of nut hulling and/or shelling means. However, conventional preparatory processes remain expensive, complicated, time consuming, and efficient.
Most nut hulling and/or shelling preparatory processes include soaking the unshelled nuts in water for a certain length of time to soften the hulls and/or shells. In some processes, the unshelled nuts are boiled or steamed to soften the hulls and/or shells. A combination of soaking, boiling, and steaming may also be employed. The time involved in these conventional processes varies greatly, depending on the variety of nut. A plurality of vats and a heating element are needed for the alternate soaking and boiling technique, thus a large amount of money invested in equipment. A further disadvantage of the conventional process is the transfer of the nuts from one vat to another at precise times, thus adding to the complexity of convention nut hulling and/or shelling preparatory processes.
The greatest disadvantage of conventional processes is their inefficiency. No conventional preparatory process is designed to protect the kernels of the nuts by hardening them. In the conventional processes, the shells remain harder than the kernels, thereby allowing a certain percentage of the kernels to be crushed in the shelling process.